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Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, Ernst Thesiger ... see more see more... , Vida Hope , Henry Mollison , Patric Doonan , Duncan Lamont , Harold Goodwin , Colin Gordon , Joan Harben , Arthur Howard , Roddy Hughes , Stuart Latham , Miles Malleson , Frank Atkinson , George Benson , Howard Marion-Crawford , Charles Cullum , Judith Furse , Edie Martin , Jack McNaughton , Mandy Miller , Charlotte Mitchell , Des Roberts , Ewan Roberts , Russell Waters , Brian Worth , Bill Russell , Harold E. Scott , Jack Howard , Olaf Olsen , John Rudling , Charles Saynor , F.B.J. Sharp , Alec Guiness , Ernest Thesiger

Alec Guinness has one of his finest comic roles in this Ealing satirical comedy about a much patronized amateur scientist whose latest invention creates an uproar in the British textile industry. In t... read more read more...he British manufacturing country of Northern England, factory owner Michael Corland (Michael Gough) is showing competitor Alan Bimley (Cecil Parker) around his plant, hoping to borrow some money and marry off his daughter Daphne (Joan Greenwood). They come upon a curious contraption that turns out to be an experiment by employee Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness). Being a lower class worker, Sidney is summarily fired from his job. Sidney ends up working at Bimley's factory, where he is befriended by militant worker Bertha (Vida Hope). Daphne spots Sidney at the factory and he explains to her the results of his experiment -- a material that is indestructible and impervious to dirt. Bimley discovers this project and throws Sidney out. But Daphne, impressed by his experiments, funds Sidney, installing him in his own laboratory. After a few false starts, Sidney develops a pure white material that can't be dirtied or ruined. But it seems Sidney's invention is too brilliant and effective; if a material is marketed that will last forever, textile mills will go out of business and workers will lose their jobs. Suddenly, poor, luckless Sidney has both management and labor banding together to combat his new invention. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

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78% liked it

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9 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 22 min.

Directed by: Alexander Mackendrick

Release Date: March 31, 1951

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DVD Release Date: September 10, 2002

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Flixster Reviews (182)

  • matertenebraum
    February 10, 2011
    matertenebraum
    "Man in the White Suit" is perhaps, along with "Kind Hearts and Coronets," the pinnacle of the Ealing film. It's a very sophisticated and subtle comedy/farce that takes a dig at a number of the cultural institutions that characterise northern England. It's not so much a satire di... read morerected at capitalism but an opprobrium of the suspicious relationship between capital and labour and the broader unworkable relationship of commercial achievement with scientific progress. The success of the film resides in the subtlety with which these issues are explored and the even-handedness by which they are dealt with. At a more basic level the film is an excellent example of a farce as the frustration, misinterpretation and exaggerated comedy are delivered with a breath-taking pace. Very well written, even better direction and uniformly spot-on performances make this one of the great British films of the 1950s.
  • smith44
    April 6, 2010
    smith44
    Another great Ealing Comedy, with the star of the studio, Alec Guiness always teriffic in the productions. Not as great as previoious ealing productions, such as Kind Hearts and Coronets, but still a must see, for British comedy and Ealing fans.
  • garyX
    March 10, 2007
    garyX
    Gently amusing satire of capitalist corporations, probably before the term had even been invented. I'm not the biggest fan of Ealing, but it's light comedy with a brain.
  • MightySparks
    January 19, 2011
    MightySparks
    I thought it was pretty dull to be honest. I thought it was meant to be just sci-fi, but it turned out it was a sci-fi comedy, which usually don't work. And it didn't. It wasn't funny, and it was just boring.
  • Doctor0Quinzel
    December 14, 2009
    Doctor0Quinzel
    It was just okay
  • DrLappos
    March 18, 2008
    DrLappos
    Brilliant.
  • TonyPolito
    December 25, 2010
    TonyPolito
    Not much here for today's viewer, even with Alec Guinness at the wheel. The notion of planned obsolesce was surely novel and fascinating to a 1951 audience, but you can't entertain anyone today with 90 minutes about it.

    Guinness is a quirky lab rat who invents an eternal and st... read moreainproof fabric. Well actually he gurgles test tubes and explodes his labs for the first 45 minutes of the film UNTIL he invents it. The other 45 minutes of the film is devoted to milking the notion that now the fabric industry will have nothing to sell ... and that labor will have nothing to make. Everyone ends up chasing Guinness down dark alleys trying to shut him and his invention down. Then the product fails and all is well with the world again. Fin.

    Again, to a 1951 audience, the notion that true product innovation might be at odds with the progress of capitalism and society was probably a titillating intellectual exercise. But since then of course the entire world has experienced an explosion of technological innovation ... and capitalism hasn't suffered much from it ... and job creations and losses aren't absolutely tied to it either.

    As outstanding an actor as Guinness is, one might suspect that the film could hold attention just with him in it. Not the case. This is a pretty dry and unengaging delivery, actually, and any number of actors could have done as well. Which is "not well enough."

    RECOMMENDATION: Not as much managerial insight here as I would have hoped. Most viewers can easily take a pass without regret.
  • madelineschulman
    November 24, 2006
    madelineschulman
    Alec Guinness's character cares only for creating his indestructible fabric, ignoring the love of women and the devastation of blown up laboratories he leaves in his work. Holds up after half a century.

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Critic Reviews

Christopher Lloyd
May 23, 2011
Christopher Lloyd, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Alec Guinness' sharp bird nose and watery eyes helped him play characters who were misfits on the margins of society. He made for a kindly but stubborn rebel in the Ealing comedies. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
February 12, 2009
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A witty Ealing Studios satirical mad scientist comedy that concerns itself with modern day societal and technological problems. Full Review

Mark Bourne
April 6, 2006
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com

While on the surface it's a comic fable with a sense of humor as dry as a cracker, the movie possesses a sharp edge that rises like a shark fin above the natty British drollery. Full Review

Ken Hanke
September 11, 2003
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Clever Ealing comedy, though perhaps not as great as its legend.

February 12, 2009
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Bosley Crowther
March 25, 2006
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Dave Kehr
January 1, 2000
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Click to read the article Full Review

Daniel M. Kimmel
September 16, 2005
Daniel M. Kimmel, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

No review available.

Emanuel Levy
July 7, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

Christopher Null
May 3, 2005
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

Click to read the article Full Review

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